IMITATION of MARY

CHAPTER 5

WE MUST GIVE OURSELVES TO GOD

WHILE ON EARTH

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LISTEN ,my daughter, to what I shall say to you;

 Forget your people and your fathers house (Ps 45:11)

and you shall win the heart of the king which you have

touched. That king is your God.

During her life on earth Mary listened to the

voice of God that called her into solitude; from

her earliest years she left her father's house and

consecrated herself to God in the temple.

Nothing could hold her back: not youthfulness

nor bodily weakness nor love of parents.

Everything that delays the sacrifice of a

heart which seeks and loves God alone, afflicts

that heart, for it also delays its happiness.

Once she became an inhabitant of the temple,

Mary fulfilled in the most perfect way possible

the duties that were entrusted to her in

accordance with her age and strength.

She devoted to prayer and meditation the

lime left to her; that is how she prepared 

herself for the very special graces God was to give

her.

Carmelite Brother

O daughter of heaven's king, how noble and

splendid are the first steps you take! (Song 7:2).

Others will follow your example.

Carmelite nuns of Christchurch, NZ

 "In your

train countless virgins will joyfully consecrate

themselves in the temple of the king of kings."

The offering they will make to the God of their

youth, their heart, their freedom, their entire

self, will be an act of perfect homage to His

majesty; and the homage will be a source of

blessings which He shall heap upon them

throughout their lives.

What self-deception to think that the young

are not capable of virtue!

Mary and the Saints have shown us how

profitable it is for a man to have carried the yoke

of the Lord from his very youth (Lam 3:27).

Young woman joins the Poor Clare 1960

Do we treat God as God when we give Him

only the shabby remnants of a life that was

given us that we might spend it wholly in His

service? What kind of a sacrifice are we offering

to God when we wait to commit ourselves

to His service until, by worldly standards, we

have neither strength nor means left?

Do not wait until old age to give yourself to

God. By that time we are exhausted from the

world's yoke and have no strength left to carry

God's yoke.

You say you will give yourself to God when

you are older. But when will that day corne?

And when it comes, will you succeed in turning

to God as easily as you think?

St. Therese entered  Carmel of Lisieux at the age of 15

Experience teaches us that mature years

bring knowledge but not necessarily wisdom.

Lord! Lord! Open the door for us! (Mt 25:11),

eried the foolish virgins but they carne too late

and knocked on the door in vain.

Experience teaches us that maturer years

make us ready to enter the presence of the

supreme judge, Who asks an account of one's

whole life!

The man who does not consecrate to God

the early years of his life may well fear that to

punish him God may allow his life to be long

drawn out.

My God, how many know You but do not

love You!

 I should be inconsolable at the

thought. But, if I am easily consoled, can I at

least say that I have at last begun to love You?

If I were only a child once again! I would

want mind and heart, thoughts and affections,

everything in me, to be given to You.

Thank You for Your great mercy in preserving

my life while I spent it in offending You.

I beg for Your grace! May it help me to

serve You until my dying breath, and to serve

You all the more faithfully as I have begun so

late to be Your servant.